New Beetle
by Supernerdette
Summary: Jaime Reyes has had the Scarab for a few weeks and is getting used to it. Nightwing, Beast Boy and Impulse call in to investigate some strange occurences in El Paso and offer him a place on the team.
1. Chapter 1

**This can be taken as a sequel to First Night, which you should totally check out, but it can also be taken as a one-shot in its own right. I hope I've got the story right but I'm not too sure… Nightwing is 16 and a half in this, and Jaime has just turned 15. I know this may not be canon because of impulse or something but yeah. Don't care. I know you guys probably know this, but Jaime is pronounced **_**hi-may**_**, not jayme. In this fic, Ted Kord is already dead and everyone knows.**

**Jaime's mum knows about the scarab (I think).**

Something was beeping. Quickly enlarging the feed, Nightwing scanned through the information. The Kord Industries building had exploded. An unused building exploding randomly was enough to set off anyone's _uh-oh_ radar, but this was the former occupation of the old Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. Normally, it would have been someone else's job to check it out, but since it was the old Kord building, Nightwing wanted to investigate it personally.

He'd been friends with Ted Kord, and he knew he was a good, kind, honest man. He'd worked with Blue Beetle on numerous different occasions and also knew the man was incredibly trustworthy and reliable.  
Sighing, Nightwing closed his holo-computer on his wrist and walked away from the central console of Mt. Justice. Since he was the one in charge around here, he had 'access all areas' when it came to information files; not that he needed it, the master hacker had long since been able to access all areas. His second in command when it came to computers was Connor, and although he didn't really understand the technology, he knew how to use it properly.

Nightwing called the Kryptonian through his comm., which was always in his ear now, no matter the time or place.

'Connor?'

''Wing!'

'I have a favour to ask you.'

'Shoot.' That was what he liked most about Superboy; he was always willing to help.

'Can you take my shift for a few hours, maybe spar with the younger ones a bit?'

'Sure, why?'

'There was a disturbance at the Kord building. I want to go check it out, and there's been strange energy signals being emitted, ones that don't originate from earth.'

'Are you sure? It sounds dangerous. You shouldn't go alone. Take someone else for backup.' Connor was always the sensible one who looked at risks, despite his angry exterior.

'Hmmm. Actually, this might be a good experience for one of the rookies… who d'ya think I should take?'

Connor facepalmed. He was trying to get Nightwing to take a meta along just in case, and a powerful one at that. Not just a few rookies, someone who could fight, like La'gaan or Tim. He thought for a moment before replying.

Within five minutes, Nightwing, Beast Boy, and Impulse were all suited up and ready to go. Nightwing kick-started his motorbike, Beast Boy transformed into some kind of green bird, and Impulse just yawned, before blurring up out of the cave after them.

Impulse and Nightwing raced for a bit on the roads, before the younger rocketed ahead with a burst of laughter.

'Impulse.' Nightwing chided over the comm.

'What, just havin' a bit of fun here, isn't that right BB?'

There was no answer from the green bird. Of course, that was to be expected – whilst flying in bird form, there was no way to connect a comm to the half-martian without attracting suspicion. However, he still seemed to get the picture and cawed loudly at the speedster.

"All right, spoilsports!" He yelled, the noise being whipped away by the wind. Slowing down ever so slightly, he slipped into second's position by Nightwing's side.

After a few more minutes, they were just outside the neighbourhood of El Paso. Garfield had changed back to his human(ish) form, and Impulse lifted his goggles from his face. They stood under the cover of some trees, and Nightwing had his holo-computer up again and was checking up on the energy source.

"It seems to be coming from that house over there," he informed the others.

"Crash! Now let's go check it-aargh." Nightwing's wrist shot out and he snagged the speedster before he could escape. "Aw, man," he complained.

"Shut up," the older teen hissed. "You go marching in there straight away and our cover is blown to smithereens! They might even capture us and try and get our identities!"

Nobody really knew who '_they'_ were, but they both got the picture. Impulse looked a little guilty – this was his first proper assignment/mission and he didn't want to mess up.

"Should I change into a dog or something and get a better look?" Gar asked timidly. Nightwing knew he could do it himself but the experience would be good for the young teen, as well as how he handled it.

"Not a bad idea, but what kind of dog is bright green? Try a small bird, you can use that tree over there." In a flap of feathers he was gone.

He flew back almost immediately. "There's no-one in, apart from one guy. About mid-teens by the looks of it, nothing Meta about him that's obvious."

"Nice one. Okay, Impulse, I want you to stay out of sight but well in earshot, just in case." Said hero frowned briefly but then nodded. "Gar, what's the smallest animal you can do?"

…

Still in his green coat to hide his uniform, and a baseball cap to conceal his domino mask, he approached the door and knocked twice. It slid open a crack and Nightwing saw a brown eye peer through the gap.

"Uh, hi? What can I do for you? If you're here trying to sell something then-"

Nightwing took off his baseball cap. The kid looked at him strangely, so he unzipped the front of his coat and showed him the insignia on his chest. He was counting on his reputation to help him out here.

"Can I come in?" The other teen just gaped. Nightwing waited for five, ten, fifteen seconds.

"Um, sure, I guess…" he opened the door fully and let the vigilante through. "So, what brings you here, Mr… Wing?" he asked as he led him through to the kitchen

He chuckled. "Just Nightwing is fine. And I saw some strange signals…"

Jaime was very confused. Where he lived wasn't the most law-abiding of places, but it wasn't anything like Gotham or Bludhaven in terms of criminal activity, so what was Nightwing, _the _Nightwing, doing here? Unless…

_He seeks to confront us,_ the scarab, Khaji Da, informed him. _He wishes only harm._

No he doesn't! That's _Nightwing,_he doesn't _do_ harm! Khaji Da kept arguing. The noise was giving him a headache, so he decided to try and distract himself.

"… I'm Jaime Reyes." He held out his hand for a handshake. Nightwing brought his up too. Nobody expected what happened next.

_He is striking you!_

A flash of blue light and some clicking noises later, a sonic cannon extended itself from Jaime's now armour-covered left arm, aimed in Nightwing's direction and prepared to fire. It fired a narrow beam and knocked the vigilante backwards out of his chair. Suddenly, there was a flurry of movement.

"Freeze, pal!" A younger sounding voice reached his ears, followed by a deep, threatening growl. Slowly turning his head, he laid eyes on one heck of a scene. Crouched behind him, tensed and ready to strike, was a huge, bright green lion. On the other side of him, just in front of the window, was a kid in a red and white bodysuit and a translucent yellow visor with his fists raised, also ready to strike.

"'Wing!" the kid shouted, alarmed. "Hey, blue guy, if you so much as move a muscle…" The lion growled again.

Insect?  He realised that with all the commotion, he hadn't noticed the rest of his armour was covering him and he was hovering, almost scraping the ceiling.

"BB, you've got this one covered? I've gotta check Wingster!" The green lion nodded. Wait, nodded?

In a blur of movement so fast it was almost invisible, the red and white kid raced over to Nightwing, who he noticed was on the floor. Khaji Da must have hit him, Jaime realised.

"'Wing! Nightwing! You know the team are gonna kill me if they think I let you get hurt!" The kid cried anxiously, "'Wing!"

"…Don't…don't call me that, Impulse," the teen groaned, sitting up. Impulse sighed in relief as he saw no harm had come to their leader.

_I do not understand! That blast should have at least cracked ribs!_ Khaji Da hissed.

"Impulse, Beast Boy, I'm fine!" his teammates looked at him dubiously – well, as dubious as an angry lion trying to focus on a flying armoured blue being can look, anyway. "Kevlar and body armour plating, remember?" He tapped his chest to emphasize the point.

"Khaji Da! Stop!" Everyone looked at him confusedly. Jaime realised he'd said that out loud, and turned red; not that anyone could see him in the armour. The sonic cannon retracted and he dropped to the floor, although the armour stayed put. Impulse gaped at him and the lion rumbled.

"Gar." The lion turned its head, keeping the battle-ready position. "It's okay." It growled in response. In all the commotion, Nightwing's green coat had come off and he now looked a heck of a lot more threatening.

"Gar!" The lenses on the domino mask contracted in what Jaime assumed was a glare. "Stand _down_." Grumbling, the lion's legs began to narrow and its face begun to change until a small green boy with sideburns and fur covering most of his body apart from his hands, feet and face, and wearing a red bodysuit.

"Woah!" the armoured teen gasped. _He is part Martian, _Khaji Da told him, _able to change into animals_.

The part-Martian boy ran on his hands and feet to the other side of Nightwing, who was clearly their leader.

"Uh, so what exactly is going on here?" Impulse asked.

"My best guess is that there is something in control of Jaime's body which made him react like that. It must have taken my handshake for a threat," Nightwing mused.

"Hey, how did you know that?" the green kid enquired.

"His movements seemed jerky, like a puppet on strings. No human in control of themselves moves like that, not even Metas."

After waging an internal war with himself, Jaime was able to convince the scarab to let the armour off his face.

"I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?"

They all sat back down at the table calmly after the older teen had placated the speedster and Martian. Nightwing relaxed, although his teammates did not and sat close to him, worried expressions on their faces.

"Jaime, this is Beast Boy and Impulse. BB has Martian powers and Impulse is a speedster. They're on my team." Impulse flashed a grin at him whilst Beast Boy avoided his eyes.

"Uh, hi?"

"So, can you tell us about," Nightwimg waved his hand at the armour, "This?"

"Well, it started when…" After Jaime had recounted his story, Impulse blurred over to him.

"That's _so_ crash! Canweseeitcanweseeitpleease!" he gestured to his back.

"Um, pardon? A little slower, ese?"

"Can we see that scarab on your back?"

"Uhh-"

"Impulse." The speedster immediately backed off, hanging his head slightly. "Leave it for now," Nightwing said, "We know Jaime is our friend, but we don't know what this… 'Khaji Da' would interpret as a threat, remember?"

"Yeah. If it thought Nightwing trying to shake your hand was a threat…" Beast Boy shuddered, "What would it do if we tried to touch it or take off your armour?"

There was a knock at the door. Everyone flinched.

"-ime? You home?" A voice floated through the air. Nightwing raised his eyebrow again.

"It's fine with me, as long as you guys are okay with my mum being here." Beast Boy and Impulse looked to Nightwing, who nodded.

"You mean she knows about your armour and stuff?" Impulse asked

"Yeah. Coming, Mum!" Jaime walked to the door and let in a petite woman with brown hair.

"Oh my," She said, "You are in a _lío_ here, are you not?"

After even more explaining, Nightwing formally offered Jaime a place on the team. "We could use someone who can fly, and that armour and cannon are pretty cool too. But, the best thing is that you _want _to help people and are prepared to contribute."

"It would be _crash_ if you joined! There's all sorts of cool stuff at the cave, like-"

"_Impulse_! We don't know if he's going to join yet, so you _can't_ tell him details of the Cave, okay!"

"…Oops."

"It's fine."

"Of course! I'd love to join the team! I've heard so much about you guys!"

"That's good. But," Nightwing looked over to Jaime's mother, "It's not just your opinion."

"Oh yeah! Ms Reyes, do you give consent for your son to join the team?" Beast Boy asked formally. Nightwing looked at him, impressed by his etiquette.

"Yes. If you want to, you should. Try to do some good in the world, hm?" Ms Reyes replied.

After a bit more conversation, it was agreed that Jaime would stay at the Mountain for a week to see if he was the right person for the team, and if so, he would become a member of Young Justice.

Jaime's mother left the room, presumably to pack him some clothes.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to blindfold you for the way there. Just in case you don't join, civilians can't know where our base is; it puts them in danger of the telepathics out there." Nightwing told him. "You can come back on my bike – BB can't carry you and not look suspicious, and Impulse just can't carry you anyway."

"Um, okay. But I shoulc probably blindfold myself in case Khaji Da thinks…" Nightwing nodded and handed him a strip of fabric which he tied around his head so he could still see.

He said goodbye to his mother and took the bag of clothes from her. Beast Boy and Impulse flanked their leader as they walked to the woods.

"So, where's the bike?" Jaime asked

Nightwing pressed a button on his belt. A blue and black motorbike screeched to a halt in front of them. Jaime sighed. "Should've expected that, I guess."

"Yup," Impulse added.

Beast Boy shrunk into a falcon, and NIghtwing walked over to his bike.

"Well? Hop on." All Jaime could do was stare at all the buttons, levers and dials jutting out of the bike's panels. "C'mon already!" Shaking himself out of his ogling, he climbed onto the bike on the back seat. Nightwing swiftly slid on in front of him.

"Bike computer – Mount Justice." He instructed.

"Ready," A cool, female voice replied.

"Jaime. Blindfold." The other teen compiled after staring at the holographic interface projected from the bike.

"Start."

The bike revved its engine before pulling off, followed by a red blur and a green falcon above.

**Dun dun durrrr…**

**I'm gonna have to do another few chapters, meeting the team and stuff.**

**Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2 - Introductions to the team

**New Beetle Chapter 2. **

**A little disappointed; not many reviews. Oh well…**

**Same ages apply from previous chapters. I know the ages are a bit out for series 2, but please. Nightwing is almost 17 and any others mentioned. It doesn't **_**really**_** matter, right? For the purpose of Execute, Zatanna does not exist. **

Nightwing radioed ahead to alert the others back at Mount Justice of the situation. They agreed to all leave the mountain apart from Superboy, who would stand guard inside just in case, to meet their newest would-be team member.

As the strange group slowed to a halt outside the mountain, Gar flew down to the ground and returned to his usual form before scampering up to his sister and crouching at her side. Nightwing dismounted, took off his helmet and removed the blindfold from Jaime, who had donned his armour for the trip. La'gaan and Batgirl looked at the new arrival suspiciously, like one would view a lion in a cage. Cassie and M'gann smiled at him, whilst Rocket, Tim, and Karen just looked bemused.

"Uh, hi?" Jaime stammered. Rocket laughed.

"Team, this is the new Blue Beetle." Nightwing explained, "He is not a meta, but the armour comes from…" the elder vigilante looked to Jaime, silently asking if he could disclose his secret. Receiving an affirmative nod, he continued. "Jaime gets his powers from a scarab on his back, just like Ted used to."

Cassie rushed up to the recent addition. Taken aback, Jaime felt the armour retract from his face.

"Hi! I'm Cassie, and this is the team, and it's totally awesome, and this is Bumblebee, but we call her Karen, and…" She grabbed him by the shoulder and all but dragged him to the other team members, chattering away eagerly as she introduced them all. Nightwing smiled as he overlooked the socialisation. Everyone was involved, except Impulse, who hadn't left the leader's side.

"Bart? What are you waiting for? Why aren't you getting to know Jaime like the others?" The speedster hung his head. "Bart?" he asked again quietly. He didn't receive a reply. "Come over here," he said, walking a few paces away so they wouldn't be in earshot of anyone. He was getting worried; speedsters were never quiet, and Impulse hadn't said a word since they got back. "What's the matter?"

Impulse mumbled something under his breath.

"What?"

"'M'sorry."

"Huh? What for?"

"The mission…" Bart never looked this downcast, "I kinda screwed it up…"

Nightwing scratched his head. "How d'ya figure that one out?"

"Well, I went ahead and could have blown our cover, and if I'd tried to look at the scarab it could have been a major disaster…"

"No kidding. That thing knocked me down in body armour and all. But I still don't get what you mean."

"I feel like everything I did was a mistake."

_Ah. _Nightwing recalled that this was the boy's first proper assignment. He could remember very well his first mission (unofficial as it was) with Batman, and the chaos that it caused.

"Hey," he said, "Don't worry about it."

"But-" his expression was forlorn.

"On _my_ first mission I snuck out of the cave in an improvised costume and nearly got both me _and_ Batman killed and accidentally blew up half a building." Nightwing revealed carefully, omitting any potential clues to his identity, even though he knew Impulse already knew it. It was a habit of his. "So when I say you didn't screw up, believe me, you _really_ didn't screw up."

"Um, okay. Wait; did you say half a building? How the heck did you manage that?" A drastic mood change had befallen the young vigilante and he was now grinning like a maniac.

"Secret. Now, go join the others and give Jaime a proper speedster welcome."

The brunette blurred off, a streak of red and white.

After about five more minutes, Nightwing cleared his throat. All the talk ceased as eyes turned to him. "Not to spoil the fun, but I think we should go in," he said, gesturing to the dark storm cloud above them. Without further complaint, the team moved as one down the grass a little. Jaime gaped as the grass started to tilt, revealing a ramp leading into darkness.

"Heh. The look on your face," Impulse snickered, "That never gets old, seeing people's first reactions to that thing."

"Impulse," M'gann chided, "Be nice. _Your_ first time here wasn't that good, was it?"

He paled slightly.

After they had all got inside and Jaime had dumped his suitcase on the floor, Nightwing took charge again.

"I know we have a new member, but that's no excuse to slack off. Normal training still applies. Wonder Girl, Rocket, you three go practice weapons with Batgirl. La'gaan, Bumblebee, you two still need to clean the kitchen from yesterday. Beast Boy, if you could see where Mal's got to and tell him I need to speak with him. Impulse, you go with Miss M and work on your intangibility – last time you almost couldn't get through that wall quick enough. See if Superboy wants to help you, you need to be able to do it under pressure and in combat situations too."

The various members of the team split off to complete their different tasks. Jaime quietly marvelled at Nightwing's natural affinity for leadership and confidence. It didn't seem like he was bossing them around at all, yet there was no opportunity for them to decline their tasks or talk back.

"Tim, you and I will show Jaime Mount Justice. Unless you had anything else planned?"

"I was going to practice with my staff a bit, but I can do that later or at the Cave."

"Great! Okay, where should we go first…?" Nightwing contemplated. "Oh yeah, we need to show you your room here…"

Jaime followed the two bats down the corridor, before noticing the small amount of doors with plaques on them. "Why are there not as many rooms as there are people?"

"Tim?" The elder gestured. He'd been trying to improve the third Robin's confidence; although he was smart and good in combat, he lacked authority and people skills.

"Oh, um, well, Kar-Bumblebee has her own place, so does Mal, and Batgirl and I stay at the Batcave so we don't need rooms here. Rocket usually stays at her house or with Icon, and the rest stay here." They reached the end of the line of rooms. There was a dead end with a door on it **(does that make sense?)** bearing the Nightwing insignia.

"Your room?"

"Yup. Feel free to swing by if you have any questions or anything. Just make sure you knock, 'cause my security systems activate if anyone except me, Batgirl, Robin or the other founders tries to force their way in."

Jaime gulped, and Tim laughed. They walked back a few paces to where a door with no plaque stood. Pressing the tip of his glove to the smooth surface of the lock, Nightwing pushed the door open after a small click. "I have the 'skeleton key' of access cards. I can get into any room at the mountain at any time."

They all walked into the room. It wasn't a huge room, but it was hardly a prison cell. A single bed was pushed against the wall, and there was a chest of drawers and a mirror opposite. A desk was on the wall too, with a small laptop on top of it.

"You can dump your stuff here," Tim stated and Jaime dropped his suitcase on the floor. "Boys' bathroom is second door on the left. The girls' one is opposite, and their rooms are on the opposite side of the hall. You should be able to figure out whose room is who's by the plaques."

"Um, okay. So should I unpack now or is there anything else I should know?"

"We'll meet you in the lounge in five or whenever you've finished. Oh yeah, don't try and get into the girls' bathroom. It's booby-trapped against anyone with a Y chromosome."

Nightwing and Robin left, leaving a very confused Jaime wondering if the former's last statement was true. He looked around. Due to it being underground in a mountain, there were no windows in the room. But the ceiling lights gave off something more than just light, something that seemed like sunlight or natural light, which made it feel a lot less like a cell.

In the lounge, Nightwing and Robin talked.

"So, what do you think? Do you think he'd suit the team?" Although officially Conner was his second-in-command, it was no secret that their leader valued Robin's opinion on matters above most others', and the team knew they were related, even though they weren't aware how.

"I don't know," the fourteen-year-old replied. "It seems like this is all so new to him. He's definitely trustworthy though, and I think he'd make a great team player." Whilst Dick's people skills were in communicating, reading and making people feel comfortable, Tim's undoubtedly lay in analysing their personalities. This skill was what would make him a great leader, Nightwing mused, because he would be able to put together a team and squads of people who would be able to work together efficiently.

"Yeah. He doesn't seem like a hard-hitter, more of a support or backup type. Though the aerial aspect will probably prove the most useful…" Dick was a master at tactics, usually long-term plans requiring precision and accuracy, whilst his brother had the best immediate combat strategy in a fight. It was one of the things that made him a better leader and Tim a better soldier.

"Support or backup? But which squad would you put him with?"

"I was thinking… we should probably assign him to Impulse for now. Have him show him the ropes and how everything works. On missions, if you could join them with Batgirl? They're both relatively new to this and they need seasoned veterans on their squad, at least until they are used to it."

"Sure."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the subject. Jaime, _sans_ armour, walked around the corner with a slightly dazed expression on his face. Nightwing laughed and even the ever-stoic Robin let out a timid chuckle.

"Um, Nightwing? Why is everything…spinning…?" Tim quickly grabbed the unfortunate teen and hauled him into a nearby chair before his legs could give out on him. "Mmph…" Nightwing laughed again. He was showing all the signs of… a peeping tom.

"Jaime? Do you remember which door was the boys' bathroom?" he asked quietly.

"Second door…" he mumbled, "N'the right?"

Nightwing burst out laughing, just as Batgirl, Rocket, Karen and Mal rounded the corner. The redhead merely raised one eyebrow, while Rocket and Karen burst out laughing, having already guessed what had happened to their newest recruit.

"Um, kid, that's where the _girls_' bathroom is. Guy's one is opposite." Mal said in his deep voice, "Hate to break it to ya, but you probably activated the defence system."

Jaime groaned again, before pushing himself up on one elbow and rubbing his head. "Oh man. That's gonna be _so_ sore," he complained. The girls laughed, not unkindly, and helped him up. Mal turned to Nightwing.

"You wanted to see me, boss?"

"I told you not to call me that!"

"Whatever, boss." Nightwing muttered a few select curse words in several different languages. Batgirl looked at him in surprise.

"Harsh, D."

"Hey! Quit with the weird names; I'm Nightwing, N-I-G-H-T-W-I-N-G, understand?"

"Sure thing, boss."

Nightwing facepalmed, and Jaime watched all of this with an expression of curiosity. The older teen was clearly easy-going and relaxed, not bossy or abusive of authority at all. So why did everyone follow his orders to a tee earlier?

"Anyway, Mal, I know this would usually be my job, but could you rig up a temporary designation for Jaime over here? Use the name Blue Beetle. We won't be using the Zeta tubes much, but just in case…" the 20-year old nodded solemnly. "Oh, could you show one of the rookies how to do that? Don't give away any passwords – we can't have them all bringing in their schoolmates – but maybe Gar could do with a tech lesson?"

Replying affirmatively, their mission controller departed for the control room. Jaime, still supported by Rocket and Karen, stumbled backwards into the chair again. Karen snickered at him.

"You seriously have low-tolerance for that kind of thing, huh?" Rocket asked. Jaime took a good look at her; he hadn't had chance to look at everyone earlier. She had several piercings on each ear, and dark skin and hair. She looked around eighteen or nineteen years of age, a typical 'rebellious teen'. He nodded before turning to the redhead, who, judging by the batsymbol, was Batgirl. She grinned back at him and he turned the colour of her aforementioned hair.

Tim raised an eyebrow.


End file.
